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Canon

Player information
●Name: Haru
●Age: 37
● Contact: Bluekachu @ Plurk
● Other characters: N/A

Character information.
● Character name: Richard Strand

● Canon: The Black Tapes Podcast
● Canon point: Episode 306
● Age. 54
● Canon background: A brief history of Richard Strand
● OC world information.: Not an OC

● Abilities:
Possible supernatural abilities that have been mentioned. These include the ability to see demons (even when they aren't being seen by others) and the ability to locate missing people.

It's also been said that he is the sole person who can open the door to bring about the apocalypse.

Multilingual - Richard is known to be multilingual. It's postulated that he can speak English, Greek, Latin, Sanskrit, German, Russian, American Sign Language, Russian, Japanese, and Arabic

Gourmet cook - Richard has been canonly asked to be a guest on the TV show ‘Chopped,’ and in episode 306, he offered to cook for Alex (presumably to ‘seduce’ her)

● Strengths.:
Logic and reasoning - Richard possesses a genius level intellect and is a logical person. Logical to a fault even. He believes in fact and figures and scientific based evidence. He has a substantial capacity for rationalization in even the most non-rational of situations.

Keeping a cool head - Richard is a master at staying calm (or seeming to) most of the time. To this end, he uses his ability to rationalize the world around him. This rationalization extends to even the most fantastical of things (demons, occult rituals and the like). It not only creates an insulated barrier between him and everything else but also allows him to look at the world and all the insanity around him in a more stable light then most others would.

Strong emotional attachment - While something like having strong attachments to others might seem like a weakness (and in some cases is), for Richard, who had nothing left after his wife abandoned him, it is a strength. This attachment is what keeps him moving and keeps him able to rationalize his world, even when forces beyond his control are trying to rip it apart. His devotion to Coralee is what brought him to Alex, a woman who, through all of her prying and pushing, helped him to discover the reason behind his wife’s abandonment and the mysteries that had been plaguing his life since he was a child.

His attachment to Alex herself is what pulls him through. She was someone who was in all of the madness with him, the one who showed him he wasn’t alone. His emotional attachment to Alex, Charlie, and even Ruby is what keeps him moving forward, what leads him to want to understand and protect those around him.

● Weaknesses:
Skepticism- Richard is a professional at disbelief. Even when immersed and at the center of a conspiracy involving cults, demons and the end of the world (including the fact that he’s the key to starting the demonic apocalypse), Richard still manages to disbelieve and refute all of it. He knows there is a logical reason for it, even if he hasn’t found it yet.

To that end, when Richard can’t find a logical explanation, he refuses to admit that it might be something other than a hoax or just something that hasn't been able to be explained, yet. This is the basis of his Black Tapes. They are a conglomeration of his skepticism and his firm belief that there is a logical explanation for everything.

Insulator nature- Because of Richard’s past he has become both cynical and insular. He doesn’t show his thoughts or feelings to the outside world and speaks very little of his emotions and inner thoughts. In fact, he tries his hardest to hide them; even from those, he cares most for. This, in no small part, causes Richard to seem as if he doesn’t care, or is heartless. It also often causes people to misunderstand his intention.

Being an unmitigated ass- Even those who care about Richard can’t deny that he is outwardly a complete asshole. He has no problems with using people to further the goals he has (case in point, initially using Alex and her podcast to draw out his wife, Coralee) or harshly criticizing someone’s ideas or beliefs. Richard is blunt to a fault, and because of this, he comes off as harsh and heartless.

● Nightmares:
Food Poisoning – While he may have been joking, Richard has stated that his biggest fear is food poisoning.

Not having control - Richard has been shown to be very good at controlling the narrative in regards to what people know about him and what he is doing. When he doesn't have that control, he withdraws and removes himself from the situation. He also becomes agitated and will make threats when control is taken away in that regard.

Everything that has been brought out in Alex's podcast being correct - For the majority of his life, Richard has denied the existence of demons and the supernatural. When faced with the idea or evidence that they are real, he will explain it away (even if it's against all proof).

Losing people that he cares deeply about - Twenty years ago Richard lost everyone that he loved most. First, his wife disappeared, and he was blamed for murdering her, and after, his only daughter emancipated herself from him and chose to live with his wife's parents. He has been living with that loss ever since. Throughout the first year of his association with Alex's podcast, he was using it to attempt to find his wife. When he did find her, she abandoned him again. When Alex went to Turkey, it affected him deeply, and he began pulling her in more emotionally than he had in the beginning.

The idea that someone (Thomas Warren) has been controlling his life since he was a child - In the third season it was learned that Thomas Warren was most likely controlling Richard's life since he was a small boy. This goes hand in hand with his fear of having no control.

That he's the key to the apocalypse/isn't going to survive Geneva - While he continues to claim that demons aren't real and that the demon apocalypse is bull, there is an understanding that he may not make it out of Geneva alive. While he does well to hide this fear from others, it's still there.

● Network sample:
Here

● Prose sample:
Here